NIGERIA · MARKETS
Key Facts
- —The country Nigeria supplied 88.1% of OPay’s 2025 revenue.
- —What happened Board and shareholders approved a Nigerian Exchange secondary listing.
- —The filing OPay filed for a NYSE listing on Friday, 9 October.
- —The numbers 2025 revenue US$536.3 million, net income US$72.5 million.
- —What it means for you US investors would get first access, under the symbol OPAY.
- —Still open No price range, share count or listing dates yet.
The Nigerian payments app plans to list in New York first and then on the Lagos stock market, subject to approvals.
OPay, the Nigerian payments app, has won board and shareholder approval for a secondary listing on the Nigerian Exchange in Lagos. The step is disclosed in its US stock market filing of Friday, 9 October.
The Lagos listing would follow a planned initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol OPAY. For US investors, a fast-growing African fintech could soon trade in New York, with a second share pool in Lagos.
What the Filing Says
OPay Limited, a Cayman Islands company based in Singapore, filed a Form F-1 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Foreign companies use this registration statement for a first sale of shares in the United States.
Under the heading “Recent Development”, the company says its board and shareholders approved pursuing a listing on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX). The NGX is the Lagos-based operator of Nigeria’s main stock market.
The OPay NGX listing would come only after the primary listing on the NYSE is complete. It is subject to market conditions, all required approvals and trading, clearing and settlement arrangements.
The OPay NGX listing must satisfy the Investments and Securities Act, 2025, and the NGX Rulebook. It must also meet the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria, the country’s capital-market regulator.
Two Share Pools, One Company
The filing warns that shares traded in Lagos may not be fungible with the American depositary shares (ADSs) sold in New York. Fungible means one can be swapped freely for the other.
ADSs are certificates that let US investors hold shares of a foreign company in dollars through a US bank. Nigerian buyers would instead trade in naira on the NGX if the plan goes ahead.
Unless cross-market arrangements are set up, the company says, the two lines could trade at different prices with thinner liquidity. It adds that a Lagos listing may not create an active market or widen its investor base.
The filing also warns there is no assurance that the necessary approvals will be obtained. It gives no timetable and says the listing may never happen.
Nairametrics, a Lagos business news site, first reported the NGX plan on 27 August. It reported the filing’s confirmation of the approval on Sunday, 11 October.
The idea of a home listing has support in the Nigerian press. In August, ThisDay, a Lagos daily, ran a column headlined “If OPay Is Going Public, Nigeria Should Be on the Ticket”.
OPay’s Numbers and Backers
Revenue reached US$536.3 million in 2025, up from US$205.7 million in 2024, according to the filing. That is more than two and a half times the previous year.
Nigeria supplied 88.1% of 2025 revenue. Indonesia, where OPay focuses on loans, supplied 9.9%, with Egypt and other markets making up the rest.
The company swung from a net loss of US$50.8 million in 2024 to net income of US$72.5 million in 2025. In the first half of 2026 it earned US$90.9 million on revenue of US$467.1 million.
OPay says it processed 90.1 billion transactions worth US$558 billion in the 12 months to 30 June 2026. It counted 50.1 million monthly active users on 31 July, more than California’s population of about 39 million.
Founder James Zhou is OPay’s non-executive chairman and also chairs Opera Limited, the Nasdaq-listed browser maker. OPay launched its first payment platform with Opera in 2017.
A SoftBank Vision Fund entity holds about 6.6% of OPay’s shares before the offering, based on share counts in the filing. SoftBank Group is the Tokyo-listed Japanese technology investor.
Stanbic Africa Holdings, part of South Africa’s Standard Bank Group, has agreed to buy shares alongside the IPO. Its purchase is capped at the lowest of three measures, the first being US$200 million.
The underwriters on the prospectus cover are Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Standard Bank, CICC, B. Riley Securities and Needham & Company. The company held cash and short-term investments of US$918.7 million on 30 June 2026.
What It Means for US Readers
The NYSE listing would come first, so US investors would get the earliest access to OPay shares. The symbol OPAY has been requested, but the price range and share count are still blank.
A later Lagos line could open price gaps between New York and Nigeria, as the filing itself warns. Currency risk also matters, since most revenue comes from Nigeria while the ADSs would trade in dollars.
Three US-based firms, Citigroup, B. Riley Securities and Needham, are among the six underwriters. Closing of the offering depends on final NYSE approval of the listing application.
What Is Not Known
- The IPO price range, the number of ADSs and the shares per ADS are blank in the 9 October filing.
- No date has been given for the NYSE debut or for the OPay NGX listing.
- Whether the NGX or the Nigerian commission has received a formal listing application is not known.
- The exact dates of the board and shareholder approvals are not disclosed.
- A target valuation of about US$4 billion for the US IPO, reported by Nairametrics, does not appear in the filing.
What Comes Next
The US commission must declare the registration effective before OPay can price and sell shares in New York. An amended filing with a price range would be the usual next step.
The OPay NGX listing would follow only after the NYSE listing closes and Nigerian approvals arrive. The approval does not mean OPay shares trade anywhere yet.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is OPay?
OPay is a digital payments and lending app whose main market is Nigeria. It also operates in Indonesia, Egypt and Pakistan, according to its US filing.
What did OPay approve?
Its board and shareholders approved pursuing a secondary listing on the Nigerian Exchange in Lagos. That listing would follow a planned IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.
When will OPay shares start trading?
No date has been set for either market. The 9 October filing still has a blank price range and share count.
Will Lagos and New York shares be interchangeable?
Not necessarily, the filing warns, unless cross-market arrangements are set up. Without them, the two lines could trade at different prices.
Is OPay profitable?
Yes, OPay reported net income of US$72.5 million in 2025 after a US$50.8 million loss in 2024. It earned US$90.9 million in the first half of 2026.
Sources: OPay Limited, Form F-1 registration statement, US Securities and Exchange Commission, 9 October 2026; Nairametrics, 11 October 2026; Nairametrics, 27 August 2026; ThisDay, 14 August 2026 (all accessed 11 October 2026).
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief
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